Jaguars DBs did their job on Texans' Andre Johnson

HOUSTON — Texans receiver Andre Johnson is one of the elite receivers in the NFL, but the Jaguars’ young secondary forced him into his worst game of the season on Sunday.

The Jaguars held Johnson to a season-low two catches for 36 yards in their 13-6 victory over Houston. Johnson entered the contest having gained 382 yards with five touchdowns over the previous three games.

“We had great awareness of where he was,” Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said. “We knew where he was on the field without losing focus on the other phases of their offense.”

The defensive effort was particularly satisfying for Jaguars cornerback Alan Ball. He played for the Texans last season, but only started one game in the 11 he played.

Ball covered Johnson when he lined up on the right side of the field, and rookie cornerback Dwayne Gratz had him when he lined up left.

“I downplayed it all week,” Ball said. “But, I can’t really describe the feeling in my stomach in pregame. I wasn’t up for this game more than the others, but coming back here and seeing those faces. I showed them I’m still around. It was a good feeling.”

The Jaguars played physical with Johnson from the outset. Free safety Winston Guy delivered a solid hit on Johnson to keep him from catching a deep pass as he crossed the middle in the second quarter.

“The goal for the whole secondary is to have an attitude back there,” Jaguars rookie strong safety Johnathan Cyprien said. “If you’re going to catch the ball, you’re going to pay for it. With that hit that Winston had earlier, it forced some incompletions later on.”

Johnson’s frustration was clearly evident after the game.

“We [stink] as an offense,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we got in a rhythm at all. We just didn’t make the plays to get in a rhythm.”

The Jaguars were able to stifle Johnson with two rookie safeties, Cyprien and Josh Evans. The two tackled much better than in last week’s 27-14 loss to Arizona and didn’t have communication breakdowns allowing Johnson to run free. The Jaguars also held the Texans to 4-of-15 on third down.

“We located him well,” Evans said. “He’s a threat, so to take him away really gave us an advantage. I’m real proud, coming off last week. We pride ourselves on tackling well, and getting off the field on third down was crucial.”

The Jaguars did a decent job covering Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald in last week’s loss. However, they couldn’t stop Michael Floyd, who had six catches for 193 yards and a score.

In Houston, the Jaguars held down the top receiver and didn’t allow any Texans player to gain more than 37 yards receiving.

“We played together,” Gratz said. “Everybody was on the same page and focused. We knew what we wanted to get accomplished, and we did it.”

The Jaguars didn’t blanket Johnson to open things up for secondary targets. That put significant pressure on Gratz and Ball to stay with Johnson.

“We felt comfortable with the one-on-one matchup, so it wasn’t a problem,” Gratz said.